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YPG Int'l says Lee County man volunteering in Syria held by Iraqi police

Friends are saying Iraqi police are holding a combat medic from North Fort Myers and are encouraging Americans to contact the consulate and Congress to advocate for his release.

Patrick Ryan Kasprik, 25, who joined the People's Protection Units helping refugees in Syria in January, was arrested, friends and the group he works for, said.

Nathan Dimoff, of Lehigh Acres, met Kasprik about a year and a half ago while working on the activist site South Florida Cop Watch.

He's followed Kasprik on Facebook since he left for Syria on Jan. 17.

"He was very excited about helping out," Dimoff said. "He's a very caring man and saw the devastation and saw a need to help."

The Syrian civil war grew out of the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring and escalated to war when President Bashir Assad's government violently attempted to end protests calling for his ousting.

The People's Protection Units, also known as the People's Defense Units, is the main armed service of the Federation of Northern Syria – Rojava. Its website says it is the armed wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, and it "should be a natural partner" in U.S. attempts to fight the Islamic State.

Kasprik's Iraq arrest was published on the People's Facebook page, acting as YPG International, Saturday.

Filmmaker River O'Mahoney Hagg, who had also served with People's Protection Units, said on Facebook that Kasprik was arrested in Iraq after leaving the Rojava region in Northern Syria on Nov. 29.

Messages left for the English press office of People's Protection Units; the U.S. consulate in Erbil, Iraq; and senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson asking for confirmation and information were not immediately returned.

A spokesman for Rep. Curt Clawson's office said it was their policy not to comment on constituent casework.

Dimoff has requested attention from elected officials and is hoping for Kasprik's release.

"He goes above and beyond helping people, and I think that’s amazing," he said. "More people should be like him."

Southwest Florida Cop Watch is a group dedicated to documenting police actions "whether they are illegal, immoral or just a waste of time and resources then putting direct pressure on the individuals responsible" to bring transparency.

Kasprik was arrested Sept. 1, 2015, accused of battery of an officer and resisting arrest. A Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers release said he spit in an officer's face.

He was due in court Feb. 4. Lee Clerk of Court documents indicate he has an arrest warrant for failure to appear.